... Surveyor George Davidson. Adolph Sutro purchased the land around Mt. Davidson in 1881 and named the peak after the man who surveyed it. Davidson also surveyed the entire West Coast shoreline for the U.S. Treasury Department in the mid-1800s.

... Lotta Crabtree. The popular actress and entertainer donated the fountain at Market, Geary, and Kearny streets in 1875. It became a gathering spot during the 1906 earthquake, and every year a quake ceremony is held there.

... Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who donated the money to have the tower built as a monument to her beloved firefighters. But contrary to S.F. urban myths, the tower was not designed to look like a fire nozzle.

... Richard Barnes Mason. The former military governor of California was best known for writing an early report on the discovery of gold in the state. Mason, the grandson of U.S. founding father George Mason, might've scoffed at today's 'Frat Mason' shenanigans.

... Adolph B. Spreckels. The heir to the fortune of the Spreckels Sugar Company was park commissioner and helped with the formation of Golden Gate Park, and shot Chronicle publisher Michael H. de Young in 1884 over an article critical of his sugar company. Author Danielle Steel now lives in his former mansion in Pacific Heights.

... U.S. Senator and mining magnate James Graham Fair. Fair's daughters built the original S.F. hotel in his name, but they sold their stake just before the under-construction building was damaged in the 1906 earthquake. Julia Morgan helped redesign the hotel, which opened one year after the quake.

The Fairmont ... U.S. Senator and mining magnate James Graham... Photo-6069051.82582 - SFGate

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Stern Grove

Named after ...

Stern Grove

Named after ...

Photo: Susana Bates, Special To The Chronicle

Stern Grove Named after ... Photo-6069052.82582 - SFGate

Image 19 of 45

Stern Grove

... Sigmund Stern. The grove was purchased in 1931 by Rosalie Stern (shown above) and donated to the city, and free concerts began there in 1937. She named the grove after her late husband, a nephew of Levi Strauss.

... Col. Victor D. Duboce, a military man and former supervisor who served in the Spanish-American War. Duboce worked to convert the land at now-Duboce Park into public space after it had been slated for a hospital.

... Domingo Ghirardelli. The Italian chocolatier first set up shop in South America, but was lured to America during the Gold Rush. He had several different operations in S.F. before the company moved to present-day Ghirardelli Square in 1893. Shown is John Anton with a portrait of
Domingo Ghirardelli in 2000.

... Mary Kezar's family. Kezar donated $100,000 to San Francisco to use for a memorial to her pioneering family members, and San Francisco kicked in $200,000 to erect the stadium in 1925. The 49ers played there from 1946-1971.

... France's Marquis de Lafayette, who's also the namesake for the city of Lafayette. The park is sometimes called 'Holladay's Hill' after Samuel Holladay, who in the mid-1800s claimed the land as his own. His family lived in a house there for several years before the city finally forced him out.

... Railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins. Like Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and C.P. Huntington, Hopkins built a huge mansion on top of Nob Hill, but it burned in the 1906 earthquake. The Mark Hopkins Hotel was later built on the same spot.

... Michael H. de Young. The San Francisco Chronicle co-founder helped usher in many changes at the former Fine Arts Building, including a large tower and new central section that became the base for future remodels.

... former San Francisco Mayor Adolph Sutro. Sutro made his fortune tunneling through the Comstock Lode, but spent that fortune in S.F. At one time he owned what was likely more than 8 percent of San Francisco land.